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CALIFORNIA 



Silk Growers' 



INSTRUCTOR 




By Mrs. T. H. HITTELL 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



California Silk Culture Association. 

Mrs, E. B. Barker, President, - - - 14 Stanley Place. 
Mrs. T. H. Hittell, Corresponding Secretary, - - 808 Turk St. 

SAN FRANCISCO, 
1881. 





old— life size, p— Silkworm- 
ilk worm — life size— spinning a 
Moths emerging from cocoons. 
8 — Removing the outer fibre. 

ng Machine, ready for work. 







EXPLANATION: 

1 a — The Moth, laying eggs — life size, b — Silk Worm, one day old — life size, c — Silkworm — 
three days old — life size. (J — Silkworm, seven days old — life size. 2 — Silk worm — life size — spinning a 
cocoon. 3 — Cocoons, natural size. 4 — Chrysalis, natural size. 5 — Moths emerging from cocoons. 
6 — Glass jars of cocoons. 7 — Loosening the outer fibre of the cocoons. 8 — Removing the outer fibre. 
9 — Gathering fibres into thread. 

Center Figure — ^ n illustration of the improved Lombard Reeling Machine, ready for work. 



THE 



CALIFORNIA 



Silk Growers' 



INSTRUCTOR. 



By Mrs. T. H. HITTELL 



PUBLISHED BY THE 

y 

California Silk Culture Association. 

i 

Mrs. E. B. Barker, President, - - - 14 Stanley Place. 
Mrs. T. H. Hittell, Corresponding Secretary, - - 808 Turk St. 

SAN FRANCISCO, /$0* 

1881. 




C. A. MURDOCK&. CO., PRINTERS, 532 CLAY STREET. 






F5V5 



Mil 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by Mas. Theodore H. Hittell 
m the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



^INDEXl^ 



Page 

Introduction 5 

Soil and Climate 6 

Mulberry Trees 6 

Propagating the Mulberry Tree 8 

Gathering Leaves for Food 9 

Feeding Room or Cocoonery 9 

Shelves, Post, etc 11 

Hatching the Eggs 11 

For Small Beginners 12 

The Feeding • 12 

Cleaning 15 

Moulting Sleep 15 

Amount of Food Required 15 

Preparing for the Cocoons. 16 

Spinning the Cocoon 17 

Treatment of the Cocoon 17 

To Select Cocoons for Eggs 18 

Varieties of the Silkworm 18 

To Secure the Eggs 19 

Pairing the Sexes 19 

Laying of the Eggs 20 

Preserving the Eggs 20 

The Eggs 20 

Weight of the Eggs 21 

Silk Worm Gut Fishing Tackle 21 

Silk Worm Disease 21 

Miscellaneous .22 

Turkey. 22 

India 22 

Origin of Silk Culture in California 23 

Nevada County Silk Raising 23 

The Movement in Philadelphia 23 

Value of Silk Products 24 

Expenses 24 

Correspondence .25 



Prefatory Note. 



This short treatise has been prepared for the purpose of encouraging Home 
Silk Culture in California. Success requires intelligence on the part of those 
who engage in it. One of the reasons why former attempts have failed, was 
insufficient knowledge on the part of the workers; but failure in the past is 
no good reason for discouragement. 

The production of wine in California was, for many years, a failure. Hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars were sunk in the business before it became a 
success. There were many failures in wheat crops, chicken ranches, orange 
orchards, and other industries that have now become profitable. Success in 
these enterprises gives assurance for success in Silk Culture. The work must 
be prosecuted intelligently, faithfully and patiently. There must be a wil- 
lingness to wait a reasonable time for results, just as we do for other products. 
With perseverance, all obstacles will be overcome. The time is near when, 
with proper and intelligent action, Silk Culture will rank among the most 
important industries in California. Labor vincit omnia. 

The proof is abundant that California can produce the finest silk. This, in 
fact, has already been done, on a small scale. The superiority of the climate 
and soil of this State for the growth of the mulbeiry and the development of 
the silkworm are attested by many witnesses, and proved by actual results. 
Mrs. Sellers, of Antioch, has 3,000 mulberry trees. The late Louis Provost 
gives abundant testimony in proof of success for Silk Culture in California, 
in the manual which he has left behind him. Prof. Muller and Mr. Gillett, 
of Nevada City, Mrs. Keeney, of San Kafael, Mr. Warren, of the " California 
Parmer," Mr. J. Neuman and many others, who have given attention to the 
subject, testify to the same facts. 

The California Silk Culture Association has determined to foster this great 
industry in the homes of the people. All who wish well to the State, in pro- 
portion to their means, should assist in the great work, not solely for the sake 
of immediate personal profit, but rather for a wider and lasting blessing to 
the State. Success can be achieved, and we believe it will be. It will event- 
ually prove a great boon to California, and a rich blessing to all her people. 

The author acknowledges her indebtedness to the Rev. Dr. C. A. Buckbee 
for literary aid and advice in the preparation of the work. The manuscript 
has been carefully revised and prepared by him for the press . The authori- 
ties for the facte stated have been submitted to him, and the statements veri- 
fied. The classification and arrangement of the details of the work, are due 
to his careful analysis. For this and similar aid in the preparation of our 
Plea for Home Silk Culture in California, Dr. Buckbee has placed the author 
and the California Silk Culture Association under many and great obligations. 

E. HITTELL. 

808 Tube Street: 

San Francisco, April 13, 1881. 



-^INTRODUCTIONS 



Silk manufacture has become an established industry in the 
United States. Its success is also certain in California. The 
cultivation of raw silk can be prosecuted, especially in Califor- 
nia, and its advantages to the people are many and great. It 
will furnish pleasing and profitable employment to men, women 
and children; it will increase the home comforts of the people; 
it will add many millions annually to the wealth of the State. 

In Europe many millions of people are supported by raising 
raw silk and fitting it for the use of the manufacturer. The 
most favored nations of the East have wisely fostered this 
industry among their people until now it is the main occupation 
of vast multitudes. In France, for example, mothers train 
their children to it. It is, in fact, a part of the education of 
young ladies. Schools, convents and acadamies receive small 
quantities of silk-worm eggs, and instruct their pupils in all the 
details of the production of raw silk. It is a refreshing change 
in the studies of the young to pass from the class-room to the 
cocoonery, from books to trees, to feed the worms, watch their 
growth, and behold the marvelous production of silk in its raw 
condition. Educators in the United States are turning their 
attention to the subject. 

While our children are being instructed in botany and zoology, 
is it not equally important that in our schools there should be , 

taught an industry like that of silk culture "to our girls/k^* JPL-dZto? 
which promises such boundless weal and wealth for home and 
country ? y 

Silk culture is peculiarly adapted to women and girls. Woman 
and her work is one of the great questions of the hour. With 
the increase of population it becomes important that womifn 
should take *he^r share in every appropriate industry that bears 
upon social life and the stability of our homes. Largely as the 
result of her labor our country is now producing annually six 
hundred millions of pounds of butter worth $200,000,000. We 
have fifty millions of people in the United States largely engaged 
in agricultural pursuits. But not one in ten expects to live 
without work. Appropriate work is honorable. The necessity 
is imperative for mothers, educators, and patriotic men to pro- 
vide suitable kinds of labor, and to interest our boys and girls in 
its performance. Such considerations as these induce us to 



6 

contribute our share to that education, in the department of 
home silk culture. The cultivation of the mulberry, the care of 
the silk worm, the treatment of the cocoon, and the reeling of 
the precious fibre constitute an employment so light, cleanly 
and healthful that women and children will gladly betake them- 
selves to it when once they are properly instructed. A more 
suitable or remunerative employment is likely never to present 
itself. Its reward is a sure support for the industrious, and its 
severest labor is little more than an agreeable pastime, for it 
taxes neither body nor mind so as to be hurtful. 

Hon. James Pollock, of Philadelphia, ex-Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania, says: " I am pleased to see that ladies of San Francisco 
and elsewhere on the Pacific Coast are becoming interested in 
this important branch of American industries. California, by 
soil and climate, is peculiarly fitted for the cultivation of the 
morus multicaulus, or mulberry, so necessary in feeding the silk 
worm. I would not be surprised if California, with her many 
advantages, and with the determination and energy that charac- 
terize her people, would ere long become one of the great silk 
producing and manufacturing countries of the world. We are 
doing much and well in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in silk 
raising, and with the ladies of California heading the line success 
is assured." 

SOIL AND CLIMATE. 

The selection of soil is important. The mulberry will grow 
in almost any part of California, but success requires a rich, 
light, loamy soil. On such soil one acre will produce as much 
food as two acres from other soils. The ground must be plowed 
deep and rendered loose and friable, so as to retain moisture, 
and allow the roots to permeate the soil, where it is damp and 
cool. 

The ground selected should have a sunny exposure; that 
opening to the southeast is the best. The sunny slopes of the 
foothills of the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range mountains, 
as well as the alluvial flats and valleys in all parts of California, 
afford excellent sites for planting the mulberry. 

MULBERRY TREES. 

The leaves of the mulberry are the proper food for the silk 
worm. 

The mulberry or morus of the botanists is a genus comprising 
many species. Its origin has been assigned to China, but several 
species have been found growing in a wild state in America. 

Its berry is of a roundish and oblong form, its color varying 
from white to red and black; its pulp envelopes numerous small 
seeds. 



Most varieties are esteemed as a dessert fruit. When ripe 
they are agreeable to the taste, very wholesome and nourishing. 
The syrup is useful in mitigating inflammation of the heart. 
The wood of the mulberry is compact, elastic and hard, and 
susceptible of a fine polish ; it is therefore sought after by 
the upholsterer, the carver, and the turner. The strength 
of the timber renders it valuable to the joiner, and also for 
building boats; its power of resisting the action of water has 
been compared to that of the oak. 

One of the original or parent trees of all the white mulberry 
trees of France, which the followers of Charles VIII had brought 
from Italy on his invasion of that country in 1794, Mr. Lachaux 
has caused to be encompassed by a wall to evince his respect 
and veneration for a tree so inestimable. 

Morus Alba. — In setting out a plantation the largest number 
should be the white mulberry or Morus Alba. This produces the 
best silk, and its leaves should be fed to the worms after they 
are pretty well grown. This tree is one of the most useful in 
the world if we consider its importance in connection with silk 
culture. But its use for the purposes of feeding cattle has 
also been proved. In Germany cattle are fed in the large silk 
plantations with the leaves wasted by the worm which are too 
hard or dry for the worms to eat. 

This fact may be of value to California farmers in seasons 
when in its southern counties there is little rain. By its deep 
growing the tree reaches more moisture and resists drought 
better than grass. It will withstand the hardest winter. 

Morus Multicaulis. — There should be some plants of the 
Chinese many stalked mulberry (Morus Multicaulis.) It differs 
from all others in the uncommon vigor of its growth, and the 
property which the roots possess of throwing up numerous flex- 
ible stalks, the great length which these stalks acquire in a 
short time, and the facility with which it is propogated, from 
layers and cuttings; and it is also remarkable for the size which 
the thin, soft and tender leaves speedily acquire, and the 
promptitude with which they are renewed. 

Moretty Elata. — This does not generate by seed as some 
other varieties do, but it endures the hardest winters, and is the 
best adapted for the north. It is suitable for standard, forest or 
ornamental tree, is straight, elegant in shape, and has a luxu- 
riant foliage. The Morus Moretty was discovered in 1815 by 
Moretti, Professor in the University of Pavia. From a single 
tree he had in 1826 multiplied them to 120,000. It is an im- 
proved variety of the Alba. The large, thick, substantial leaves 
contain as much food as half a dozen of the others. The leaves, 
because of their thickness, do not wilt so fast, they keep fresh 



8 

a longer time, and afford the worms plenty of time to eat the 
whole. It gives one pound of cocoons to every fourteen pounds 
of leaves. 

Rose-leaf Mulberry, a species of white mulberry, has large 
leaves, gives one pound of cocoons for eighteen pounds of its 
leaves, and produces the finest silk. 

Morus Japanica, or the Japanese mulberry tree, has the largest 
leaves and gives the same quantity of silk as the Moretty. It is 
so easily picked that the French prefer it to any other kind. It 
stands well in hard winters. 

PROPAGATING THE MULBERRY TREES. 

The propagation of the mulberry is very easy by layers and 
by cuttings; the latter is the best and most rapid mode of propa 
gation. 

The old way of planting cuttings with one-third of the cut- 
tings out of the ground is not good in California. The action 
of our dry atmosphere, and the burning sun, dries them and 
destroys many. 

The cuttings should be about eight inches long, the top near 
one eye. One statement gives the following direction: Place 
the slips in nursery rows, laying them nearly horizontal in the 
soil, so that the end designed to root shall not be more than six 
inches under ground, while the other end is deep enough to 
have the top covered about one-half inch. In this way nearly 
all will grow. 

Another direction is as follows, and it might be well to try 
both: In planting slips they should be from twenty-four to 
thirty inches long, and planted in nursery rows, laying them 
almost horizontally in the soil, so that the end designed to root 
shall not be more than six inches under ground, while the other 
end protrudes not over two buds. In this way one obtains a 
long plant when rooted which will not be obtained if they were 
placed perpendicularly in any soil adapted for nursery purposes, 
as such soil is cold and wet at a small depth below, and would 
consequently rot the cuttings within six or eight inches of the 
surface. 

Where the soil is rich and all the conditions favorable, the 
cuttings may at once be set out where they are intended to 
grow. After planting, the ground must be kept free from weeds, 
and be well worked with a plow, cultivator or hoe, the same as 
for cabbage or Indian corn. 

Under favorable circumstances the cuttings will attain a night 
of eight or ten feet.X If trimmed down, allowing about four 
feet, they will form side branches affording a large amount of 
food for the worm for the next season. 



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9 

Another advantage arising from keeping the tree low is, that 
while the leaves and branches are equally well exposed to the 
air and sun, the ground is more perfectly shaded, thus retaining 
its moisture and rendering the tree more vigorous and produc- 
tive. 

Having planted the trees in rows, ten to twelve feet apart, 
separating the trees in rows five or six feet from each other, it 
would be well to reserve a space wide enough for a wagon road, 
at intervals of every six or eight rows. In setting trees they 
should be cut off, four inches above ground, as this causes them 
to throw out a greater number of branches, and keeps the latter 
down near the ground, where they can be readily gathered. 

GATHERING LEAVES FOR FOOD. 

In cutting off the shoots for feeding, only about one-fourth or 
one-third should be removed at a time, the largest being first 
selected, going over the entire plantation; then beginning and 
going over again. If the branches were all cut at once it 
would inevitably tend to shorten the life of the tree, and might, 
in this dry climate, even kill the tree in one year. The best 
implement for removing the branches is a pair of pruning shears. 
Cut your trees within four feet of the ground, making clean 
work as you go, cutting the branches within two or three inches 
of the body. The tree thus trimmed will produce a head to be 
taken off at the feeding time. It will be thus kept within reach, 
and always handsomer and better than when stripped of the 
leaves. The branches when cut should be laid in a cellar or 
cool room where, if wet, they will soon dry. After being fed 
from they may be planted in furrows and many will grow. 

Many persons have erroneously imagined that light is injurious 
to the silk worm, but the very reverse of a belief so contrary to 
nature is evidently true, as it is in its native state habituated to 
the most perfect light. A due proportion of the reviving light 
of day is necessary to its perfect health. In the full light of 
day, when the sun shines, the leaves of the mulberry and other 
trees inhale vital air, or that pure ethereal substance which, by 
being inhaled, gives life and heat to the animal system, while in 
the darkness they evolve mephitic air which is destructive and 
incapable of affording nourishment. 

Although the silk worm will endure a great degree of heat, 
yet when this heat is combined with excessive moisture the effect 
appears to be at least as deleterious to the insect as mephitic 
air. 

FEEDING ROOM OR COCOONERY. 

The greatest precaution should be taken to choose a suitable 
cocoonery. If not new it should be whitewashed or painted, so 



10 

that no insect injurious to the silk worm can harbor in secret 
cracks and corners. Ants have to be carefully guarded against. 
The cocoonery must also be carefully preserved from all dis- 
agreeable and unhealthy fumes and odors, such as tobacco 
smoke, or even the smell of that poisonous weed, or decayed 
animal or vegetable matter, carbof.ated hydrogen, etc. 

The cocoonery should have, if possible, windows and doors on 
opposite sides, so that a current of air can be kept up for cool- 
ing and ventilation. In very warm climates mulberry trees 
should be planted around the cocoonery, so as to afford shade 
from the scorching rays of the sun. 

The site chosen for a cocoonery should be dry, light and airy, 
a good form of building being one or two stories, and twice as 
long as wide. Some prefer brick buildings. 

The proportion should be according to the number of silk- 
worms to be raised, and can be enlarged or made smaller. 

A building twenty -five feet wide, by fifty feet long, and two 
stories high is recommended. The wall should be brick or 
plastered if possible. It should have four windows on each side 
of the first, and also of the second story, if the cocoonery has 
two stories. Such a building with two stories, would give a 
surface of 2,500 square feet. Count Dandolo estimates the 
space required for a million of silkworms as follows, and in like 
proportion for a greater or less number: 

For the first age, two hundred square feet of surface; for the 
second age, three hundred and seventy-five; for the third age. 
eight hundred and seventy-five; for the fourth age, two thousand 
and sixty-two, and for the fifth age about five thousand square 
feet of surface, which would require a cocoonery of two stories 
to be 35 by 70 feet. 

The building of a cocoonery will more than compensate far- 
mers for its erection, and it is evident that for storage there 
should be such a building on every farm. It can be built small 
or large according to the size of the farm, the business car- 
ried on, and the use for which it is intended. 

To use the building for storage and silkworms, the posts for 
the shelves should be of a regular size and length, kept together 
by wooden pins or screws, all of the same size, or in any other 
suitable way. They must be arranged so as to make it very easy 
to put the shelves together and take them apart. When the 
feeding of the silkworms is done, in a few hours the shelves can 
be taken apart and stored in one corner of the building, and the 
room can then be used for storage or other uses. 

Farmers pay heavy storage for grain; but if they have cocoon 
eries, they will soon learn their advantages. 



11 

SHELVES, POSTS, ETC. 

The posts to support the shelves should be from three to four 
inches in diameter, and eight feet apart, the cross pieces to sup- 
port the boards, about one inch and a half thick by three inches 
wide, and eight feet long. 

Inch boards, sixteen feet long can be used. The cross pieces 
being eight feet apart, the boards will be supported in two ends 
and in the middle; the boards need to be sufficient in number 
to make the shelves eight feet wide. The space between the 
shelves should be two feet six inches. The worms on the first 
three shelves can be fed standing on the floor. For feeding 
those on the upper shelves the cross piece for the fourth shelf 
needs to be longer, so as to put up a board on which to walk in 
taking care of them, and the same for the second story. 

The galleries between the shelves to take care of the silkworms, 
are four feet wide in the center, but those along the side of the 
walls only three feet. The rafters are laid across for a second 
floor, but they are only boarded where the galleries are for attending 
the ivorms; the object of this arrangement is to allow the air to 
circulate everywhere. 

In order to be able to regulate the temperature and have 
plenty of air, a kind of second roof on the top should be raised 
at about twenty inches from the other, and projecting on each 
side from four to five feet. This gives the appearance of a 
double roof. With hinges, lids can be hung that will open and 
shut them. 

HATCHING THE EGGS. 

The best season for this in California is after the winter rains 
are over. The eggs are brought out from the cool place where 
they have been kept, and are placed in a warm room, garret or 
a cocoonery. Care should be taken not to bring the eggs sud- 
denly from the ice house, "if kept there, into a warm room. They 
are oftener kept in a cool, dry room, where they do just as well. 
A good thermometer will be necessary to regulate the air in a 
hatching house. It will be required also to regulate the temper- 
ature of the feeding room. 

The outer air at this season will be from 65 deg. to 75 deg.; 
that of the ice house about 40 deg. Take the box containing 
the eggs first into a cool place where the temperature will be 
about 60 deg., and let* it remain there from half an hour to an 
hour, or until its contents have acquired the temperature of the 
surrounding air. Then bring it into the higher temperature of 
the feeding room, and again leave it to acquire the same tem- 
perature before opening it. It may be well to defer the second 
removal until night, if the weather would be unusually warm, as 
is some times the case in the month of May. 



12 

The temperature of the cocoonery should be even, at from f f 

^p about 80 de^pio 90 degA-. Very minute directions are given by 

the French, for gradually raising the temperature by two degrees ^, 
Fahrenheit, until a maximum of 92 degrees is reached. This has /ft**' 
been found necessary in our climate. 

If, however, a cold spell has brought the temperature of the 
room below 75 degrees, it will be necessary to maintain a moder- 
ate fire in a stove or grate, especially at night, or cover the 
worms with flannel or cotton wadding, so as to keep them warm. 

The eggs will hatch in from three to seven days, depending 
on the temperature. Those first hatched should be kept by 
themselves. All the worms hatched on the same day should be 
kept and fed apart (if they are raised on a large scale); those of 
each day in a separate hurdle or shelf; the shelves should be 
numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. 

This is necessary, because when the worms are moulting, be- 
\ ing of the same age, they are all moulting at the same time, 
while, if those of different ages were mixed together, some would 
be moulting when others would want to eat, and those eating 
would be very injurious to those in the critical function of cast 
ing off their skins, when it is important that they should be left 
undisturbed. 

FOR SMALL BEGINNERS. 

A table four feet long by two and a half feet wide, will be large 
enough to hatch and feed the silkworms from a thousand eggs. 
A few few pasteboard or wooden boxes, twelve to fifteen inches 
long by six or eight inches wide, and one and one-half to two 
inches deep, will be very convenient for feeding them. If no 
boxes are used, the table should have a small strip of wood 
fastened at the edge, so as to prevent the worms from falling off 
the edge of the table. 

THE FEEDING. 

The little insect or young worm, usually comes out about four 
or five o'clock in the morning. The leaves must be immediately 
gathered and placed very near them, lest they wander away and 
become lost. When properly supplied with food, the silkworm 
is little disposed to wander, never leaving the place of its birth 
unless in search of subsistence. They must be fed with young 
and tender leaves, if possible from the morus multicaulis, as it 
has no gross or coarse fibres. ( Sometimes lettuce will answer 
also at the commencement.) It is found that a less quantity of 
the multicaulis will suffice for the precious insect. The young 
leaves being replete with moisture and very tender, are the most 
suitable food for the young worms, because their bodies perspire 
largely; and as the mature leaves contain a greater proportion 
of solid and nutritious, food, so they are the only suitable food 



^H 



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13 



for the silkworms of a more advanced age. The last eight days 
the worms should be fed, if possible, only on the leaves of the 
morus alba, or white mulberry, as from this the best silk is ob- 
tained, and it possesses more of the glutinous substance resem- 
bling caoutchouc, which gives tenacity to the silk produced by 
the worms fed on them . The young worms, soon after they are 
hatched, should be placed on the different shelves 1, 2, 3, etc., 
(as before stated) in the feeding-room. In order to do this, 
young and tender branches are put on them, on which they 
crawl. As soon as they attach themselves, transfer the sprigs of 
leaves to another box or shelf, and place fresh branches for the 
next to come out. The leaves must be free from dew and moist- 
ure. Great care should be taken not to feed them with the 
young red colored leaves of the young shoots, as they sicken 
them. When they are fed with twigs they are easier removed 
from one hurdle to another. If possible, the leaves must never 
be gathered in rainy weather. When the young broods are too 
crowded, a part can be moved on the young twigs or branches. 
Suitably graduated frames are admirable for this purpose. If mos- 
quito-netting frames are used instead of a paper with holes cut in, 

Size of Holes for Frame 1. 



14 



Size of Holes por Frame 2. 



1 


/ 







according to the illustrations, (figures 1, 2,) they should be 
placed lightly over the dry and partly consumed leaves. The 
little insect will crawl through the meshes, to the fresh leaves 
laid on the netting. As the insect progresses, larger netting of 
twine or cane, with half -inch or inch meshes woven over a light 
frame, will be convenient for lifting the silkworm in order to 
remove the offal and keep the worms clean. If a large number 
is fed, frames are absolutely necessary for cleanliness. Split 
cane, such as is used for chair seats, is preferable, for it will 
make better meshes than twine. 

The size and firmness of the cocoons depend much on the 
feeding. They will be all the better for giving fresh leaves four, 
five, or even eight times each day. When fed on a large scale, 
this is usually done. Mr. S. Whiteman says, in his pamphlet: 
If branches are used for feeding the silkworm, and if evenly 
distributed on the shelves, it will keep better till consumed; in 
feeding and in cleaning of the frames, much time is gained, the 
worms mount the twigs while feeding, and remain on them after- 
wards; they enjoy the fresh air, and have more space than on the 
flat surface; when fed with leaves, the leaves will be entirely 
consumed, leaving nothing but dry branches to remove; the or- 
dure of the worm will fall through to the shelf, and they will be 
kept entirely free from it. On the branches, they will have a 
better chance to be equally fed; if this be not attended to, the 
ill-fed ones will lag be bind. But the greatest advantage of all 
is, that they need not be removed from the frame, as the frame 
which fits and rests on the shelves is removed with the worms to 
sweep the offal from the shelves and then replaced from the time 
they are put on it till they mount to wind the cocoons. This will be 
a vast saving of labor, and prevent handling of the worms, which 



15 

is always to be avoided. The branches, as they are laid on, 
should be placed first crosswise and then lengthwise with the 
frame, making thus a sort of network, which can be easily sep- 
arated in layers when you clean them off; the worms will be 
more healthful, particularly in moulting time, than when fed in 
the usual way, with leaves on a flat surface, requiring them to 
retire under the litter, aud remain there till they change, where 
they must breathe a bad air, and, in many cases be smothered by 
the accumulation of matter. This having been the method for 
centuries, has very likely caused the great silkworm disease in 
Europe of late years, which has cost France more than a hundred 
million of dollars. 

CLEANING. 

Remove the offal and partly consumed leaves every day, and 
oftener if there is any unpleasant odor, mould, or dampness. 
Remove dead or diseased insects immediately. Some will die 
in moulting. 

MOULTING SLEEP. 

On the fourth or fifth day after hatching, the worms cease to 
eat and begin the process of moulting ( casting off their first 
skins). The Chinese have remarked that the worms before cast- 
ing their skins, fasten their hind legs to a branch or leaf with a 
kind of gum, or rather silky matter. During this process, they 
pass through what is called the moulting sleep, and must not be 
disturbed. A sudden loud noise, as thunder, the firing of a gun, 
violent slamming of a door, loud speaking, intruding strangers, 
or the lighting of a match, will be injurious if not fatal. They 
are like tender babes, and need motherly care. 

They have four moulting sleeps. After each sleep they eat 
with increasing greediness. During the fifth age they consume 
a great quantity of food, aud the branches must be brought for 
large cocooneries by wagon-loads, mostly of the moras alba 
(white mulberry), and distributed. Full-grown leaves, even the 
coarsest, are equally valuable; and night and day they must have 
enough leaves so as to allow them to eat constantly; the more 
they eat and the faster they feed, the more abundant will be 
the product of silk. 

AMOUNT OF FOOD REQUIRED. 

Count De Hazzy says that two hundred thousand silkworms 
require ten thousand pounds of leaves in the different stages of 
their life; the first age, 50 pounds; the second age, 150 pounds; 
third age, 460 pounds; fourth age, 1,390 pounds; but in the fifth 
and last age, which usually comprises nearly one-third of the 
brief existence of the silkworm, they will require 7,950 pounds. 



16 

Different statements show that no sure guide can be given. 
Mr. Bonaf oux says : From one ounce of eggs forty thousand 
silk worms will be hatched. In the first age they require seven 
pounds of leaves; in the second, 21 pounds; in the third, 69 
pounds; in the fourth, 200; and in the fifth or after the fourth 
moulting, 1250 pounds. Much depends on care and economy 
in feeding. Of the Moras Multicaulis not so great a quantity is 
needed, as it has no gross or coarse fibres. 

The leaves should be supplied after the first moulting sleep in 
abundance, whether the worm eats them all or not. Such 
worms as do not go to sleep at the same time as others are taken 
up gently with small spoons and placed in other vessels. It is 
sometimes advisable to separate the active from the dormant 
worm, by means of small sticks of straw. Worms that are 
tardy in arousing from their sleep are often hastened out of it 
by the application of a moderate degree of heat equalizing the 
condition of all. If while passing through the different stages 
the worm has been injured by an excess of heat, its head turns 
to a reddish color during the fourth period. If the worm seems 
to have difficulty in casting off its skin it is because improper 
food has been given it. Sudden changes of temperature must 
be guarded against. Danger arises from an excess of heat and 
the absence of proper ventilation. A stream of water, or pails 
of water, to give moisture to the air is needed in hot weather. 
Also wetting of the floor. The period for feeding the worm 
lasts generally from 32 to 34 days. 

PREPARING FOR THE COCOONS. 

Soon after the fourth period the worntflljseen to crawl around, 
seeking anxiously for a place to make ft^nest — that is, to spin 
the cocoon, in which they envelope themselves, and which is to 
serve both as their temporary habitation and tomb. 

When they have become transparent and of a pearly color; 
when they cease eating and are running to and fro, looking 
upwards, or trying to ascend; when the skin about their necks 
becomes wrinkled, and their bodies have softness to the touch 
resembling soft dough, and their backs become unusually shin- 
ing, these are sure indications that they are ready to perform 
their last task; then and not before they must be provided with 
wheat or rye straw, which, after cutting off the heads, is tied in 
small bundles four inches in circumference. These sheaves of 
straw should be placed upright, spreading the tops out under 
the shelf above. Sometimes small branches of trees are made 
into rude bundles and placed on the shelves; upon these the 
worms climb and commence to make their nests. Sticks of 
wood, with shavings twisted around, are used by the Japanese; 
also forms made out of bamboo. Sometimes, even after the 
worm has ascended among the branches or the straw, it will look 
back and descend for the last time to take more food, and then 
ascend to spin its cocoon. 



17 

SPINNING THE COCOON. 

The worm is now full grown — 3J inches long and of a pearly 
color — it has ceased to eat, has found a convenient branch, and 
fastened itself to it with a loose texture of floss silk. Within 
this structure is the silken envelope or cocoon proper, formed by 
a continuous thread about twelve hundred feet long, spun out by 
the worm around itself, not in concentric circles but by irregular 
movements of its head. The outer covering is terminated at 
one end, which is always found to correspond to the head of the 
chrysalis in a cord which fastens them to the branch. The sub- 
stance of the cocoon itself can be easily separated into three or 
four distinct layers which seem to correspond with the changes 
of the skin of the insect. 

The cocoon is an inch to an inch and a half long. The thread 
is covered with gum which makes it adhere firmly, and forms a 
tight covering impervious to water. The substance of the thread 
is a gummy, transparent liquid of a white or yellow color con- 
tained in two separate vessels about ten inches long and dis- 
posed in spiral folds on each side of the worm's stomach. 

These vessels open by two small ducts, approaching near each 
other at the head of the worm. The silken thread of the cocoon 
is composed of two filaments, one from each duct. As these 
filaments are ejected the vibratory motions of the head of the 
worm cause them to unite, and they immediately harden into 
one inseparable thread. The right temperature of the room 
must still be kept up. Cold interferes with spinning; it con- 
geals the liquid in the reservoirs, making it difficult for the 
worm to draw forth and to surrender the whole amount of silk 
which they have laid up in store. During the first day the worm 
forms a loose oval structure of thin, irregular threads called 
floss silk. Within this structure, during the three following 
days, it forms the silken ball. It usually takes from three to 
five days in the construction of the cocoon, and then it passes in 
three days more, by a final moult into the chrysalis state. 

The worms while spinning must be kept as much as possible 
at all times separate. If in contact their secretions are injurious 
to each other, and are apt to spoil the cocoons, weakening the 
thread and diminishing the weight. 

/ 

TREATMENT OF THE COCOONS. 

As soon as the cocoons are finished, if intended for 
the raising of eggs, they are stored away in proper places 
or boxes and the chrysalides allowed to develop into the 
moth. But if they are to be used for producing the raw 
silk the cocoons are gathered and at once prepared for 
reeling; or if the reeling cannot be done within a week or ten 
days it will be necessary to kill the chrysalides. This is done in 



18 

other countries by means of artificial heat in an oven, and some 
times by steam. If killed by steam, they are put into a basket 
covered closely with a flannel garment or blanket, and placed 
over a vessel of boiling water for an hour. Then a cocoon is 
taken from the center and opened, to observe if the chrysalis 
moves when touched with a pin. If it does not move, the whole 
have been killed, and may then be spread out in thin layers to 
dry. Then tie in bags and hang them out of the reach of mice. 
In California they can be killed by being fully exposed to the di- 
rect rays of the scorching sun, from ten o'clock in the morning 
till four in the afternoon; two or three days of such exposure 
are sufficient to kill the chrysalis in the cocoon. Some recom- 
mend boxes four feet wide, and six inches high, covered with 
glass frames; this greatly increases the heat, and will have the 
effect of destroying the insect promptly and surely. In this way 
the cocoons will be protected against rats and mice, which are 
very fond of chrysalides. This mode is preferred to that of the 
heat of an oven which takes much of the gloss and beauty away 
from the silk. The object is to prevent the development of the 
moth, which, in its effort to escape, would tear through the 
cocoon, injure the thread and render it unfit for reeling. 

TO SELECT COCOONS EOK EGGS. 

The very best cocoons should be selected for grain or eggs, 
that is, those which are of a light color, and so far as possible, 
an equal number of males and females; the male cocoons are 
slender, depressed in the middle, and parted at both ends; the 
female cocoons are larger, more round, and resemble in shape, 
a hen's egg. If we will select carefully our very best cocoons, 
for grain, under our fine climate so very favorable to silk culture, 
we will in a few years obtain ( in consequence of our virgin soil 
and the general inclination of our productions to be large) a 
California variety that will surpass in size and quantity all the 
varieties now elsewhere known and cultivated. Every different 
climate into which the worm has been introduced, has produced 
some change in the quality of the silk, or has altered the shape 
or color of the cocoons. 

VARIETIES OF THE SILKWORM. 

Some varieties produce but one brood in a year. The Bival- 
tine hatch twice in a year. The eggs of the second crop only 
are kept for the next year's crop, as those of the first brood 
always either hatch or die soon after being laid. 

The white silk is the most valuable in commerce, but the races 
producing yellow, cream or flesh-colored are generally considered 
to be the most vigorous. 

The three most marked European varieties are the Milanese 
( Italy) breed, producing fine yellow cocoons; the Ardeche 



19 

( French ) Annuals, producing large yellow and white cocoons; 
the Brouse ( Turkish ), producing in Europe large white cocoons 
of the best quality. 

Owing to the fearful prevalence of rebrine in Europe, par- 
ticularly among the French and Italian races, the loss by disease 
has been very great for twenty years, and has cost France more 
than a hundred million of dollars, the loss being most severely 
felt by the small growers. 

They are now obliged to send annually commissioners to Japan 
and China to procure silkworm eggs. Every year millions of 
eggs pass through San Francisco to reach their destination, and 
millions spoil on the way. We have seen millions of hatched 
eggs dumped into the San Francisco Bay. 

TO SECURE THE EGOS. 

Prof. C. V. Rily, a firm believer in household silk culture, says : 
Place the selected cocoons on shelves or tables in a darkened, 
retired, warm and airy place. The chrysalis state continues 
from two to three weeks, when the skin bursts and the moth 
emerges. With no jaws, and confined within the narrow space 
of the cocoon, the moth finds some difficulty in escaping. For 
this purpose it is provided, in two glands, near the obsolete mouth, 
with a strongly alkaline liquid secretion, with which it moistens 
the end of the cocoon and dissolves the hard, gummy lining. 
Then by a forward and backward motion, the prisoner, with 
crimped and damp wings, gradually forces its way out, and when 
once out the wings soon expand and become dry. The silken 
threads of the cocoon are simply pushed aside, but enough of 
them get broken in the process to render the cocoons from which 
the moths escape comparatively useless for reeling. The moth 
is of a grayish white, creamy color, with more or less distinct 
brownish markings across the wings. The males have broader 
antense or feelers than the female and may, by this feature, at 
once be distinguished. Neither sex flies, but the male is 
more active than the female. He is also known by his smaller 
size, and continual flutter of his wings. The female is larger 
in size, of a whiter color, and seldom moves. 

PAIRING THE SEXES. 

They generally come out of the cocoon in the morning, be- 
tween seven and nine o'clock, when they should all be paired, 
otherwise the eggs will not be good. When paired they are re- 
moved by their wings to sheets of paper or canvas, spread on 
tables or boards, where they are to be left in darkness, as the 
silkworm when complete is a night insect. In placing them, 
when paired, upon the paper or cloth, ready to receive them, 
taking hold of their wings, be careful not to hurt or separate 
them from being coupled. Such as are not paired are to be 



20 

placed on a separate sheet of paper, when they soon become 
mated, after which they are placed with the others already 
paired. Occasionally a male amongst the paired ones gets sepa- 
rated from his companion. When this happens he should be 
removed, else he will cause disturbance and further separations. 
All those that become separated are to be put back with the un- 
paired ones, that they may get mated again. The unmated 
males placed in the box are kept for reserve. All the balance 
may be thrown out. The next morning the process is repeated 
the same as before, but if it happen that there are more females 
than males, the deficiency of males can be supplied from the re- 
serve, since every female must be provided with a male, in order 
to produce good eggs. This process is to be kept up from day 
to day till all the moths have emerged from the cocoons. After 
all are paired, they are left in a dark place uhtit four or five 
o'clock in the afternoon, when they are to be separated, by tak- 
ing the wings of the male with one hand and of the female with 
the other, and drawing them apart quietly, so as not to hurt 
them. After this the males are to be placed in a box, and the 
females on a cloth or paper, where they are to lay their eggs. 

LAYING OF THE EGGS. 

The females generally begin to lay as soon as the separa- 
tion from the males is effected. It is important that the two 
sexes be completely separated. When once; the females have 
commenced laying they need to be looked after no further. They 
lay their eggs in a regular circular order, from 200 to 400 in 
number. Three hundred is the usual number. This done, the 
mission of this wondrous insect is ended. It has given its life 
in labor for the adornment of the human race. Its last act was 
a provision for the reproduction of its life three hundred fold in 
a new generation. It has exhausted all its vitality. As in the 
moth state it does not eat, it dies. 

PEESEEVING THE EGGS. 

The papers on which the eggs have been deposited are to be 
rolled together carefully and placed in tin boxes, with a some- 
what loose lid, two or more sides of which should be well per- 
forated so as not to kill the eggs, as they will die if kept in air 
tight vessels. These boxes should be kept in a cool room, or in 
a dry cellar, where they will not be liable to freeze, though frost, 
while it retards the period of their hatching, does not destroy 
the eggs. Mice, rats, ants, spiders and flies are enemies that 
must be guarded against. 

THE EGGS. 

Each female is expected to lay from two hundred to four hun- 
dred eggs. Three hundred cocoons weigh about one pound; an 



21 

ounce of eggs can produce from 90 to 165 pounds of cocoons; 
the average is a hundred. Twenty-eight ounces of selected co- 
coons give two ounces of eggs, one ounce of grain (eggs) pro- 
duces at least 35,000 worms; 125 females will lay at least one 
ounce of eggs. 

The egg seed, or grain, (so-called by the silk raisers) is 
nearly round, slightly flattened, and in size resembles a turnip 
seed. Its color, when first deposited, is yellow, and this color 
remains, if unimpregnated. If, however, impregnated it soon 
acquires a gray slate, lilac, violet, or even dark green hue, ac- 
cording to variety. It also becomes indented. As the hatching 
point approaches the egg becomes lighter in color, which is due 
to the fact that its fluid contents become concentrated, as it were, 
into the central forming worm, leaving an intervening space be- 
tween it and the shell, which is semi-transparent. Just before 
hatching, the worm within becoming more active, a slight click- 
ing sound is frequently heard, which sound is, however, common 
to the eggs of many other insects. After the worm has made its 
exit, by gnawing a hole through one side of the shell, this last 
becomes quite white. The color of the albuminous fluid of the 
egg corresponds to that of the cocoon, so that when the fluid is 
white the cocoon produced is also white, and when yellow the 
cocoon will be yellow. 

WEIGHT OF THE EGGS. 

To ascertain the weight of the eggs is very important. The 
white paper or muslin, called cheese-cloth, on which the moth is 
to deposit the eggs, must be carefully prepared. The size 
should be 12 by 15 inches. Each piece must be dried and then 
accurately weighed by itself, and its weight in Troy grains 
(apothecaries' weight) must be marked upon it. Thus prepared 
it should be placed, at the proper time, under the moth to 
receive her eggs. Then, when the eggs are laid, each piece 
should be carefully weighed, and its weight distinctly marked 
as before, leaving both weights for inspection by the purchaser. 
The difference between the two weights shows the weight of the 
eggs. 

SILKWOEM GUT— FISHING TACKLE. 

Worms that die during the critical period of moulting are not 
without value. Their intestines may be used for making a 
strong thick thread, which is sold under the name of " Silkworm 
Gut." This is of value, as it makes the fishing tackle. 



SILKWORM DISEASE. 

The Chinese books describe three kinds of disease to which 
the silkworm is subject: 



22 

Firstly— The " Yi," (Chinese language) in which the worms 
are found hanging dead at the extremity of a small silk thread. 

Secondly — The "Pan," or spotted disease, in which the 
worms are covered with little black sppts, and of which they 
soon die. According to the Chinese theories, the " Yi" is at- 
tributed to cold, and the " Pan " to extreme heat. This last is 
considered contagious. 

Thirdly — A. third disease, very likely the one known in French 
by the name of " Muscardine," which is due to a parasitic 
growth in the body of the worm. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 

TUKKEY. (?>«^ 

Commodore Porter relates that A at the foot of Mount Olympus, 
as in many other cities of Turkey, asses laden with limbs and 
leaves from the Mulberry plantations surrounding that city, are 
continually carrying their burdens into the city. 

Mrs. Rhind, in her description of Turkey, says that the mul- 
berry trees are chiefly cultivated by farmers who do not them- 
selves raise the silkworm. During the feeding season the leaves 
are daily collected, transported and sold in the market of the 
city as fruits or vegetables are sold. At the proper time almost 
every family clears out all the rooms in the house, except the 
one in which they live. They hatch the worms, purchasing the 
leaves for feeding them, and produce that most wonderful 
fabric, the silk of Brorussa. Every country town in California 
may yet raise silk in the same way. 

INDIA. 

In the hot climate of India silk worms are not alone reared in 
sheltered buildings but also in sheds of an open and airy struc- 
ture, the sides being composed of lattice work and the roofs 
covered with thatch. The height is usually eight feet or more 
between the staging tiers, arranged one above the other, in 
which the shelves are arranged on which the silkworms are 
placed. The posts which support the staging rest in basins of 
water to protect the worms from ants. Many persons 
some years ago. succeeded in California, where the climate is 
very hot, in raising silkworms on verandas having the 023en 
sides closed with mosquito netting. 



23 

ORIGIN OF SILK-CULTUKE IN CALIFORNIA. 

Mr. H. Hentch, of San Francisco, imported, in 1854, the first 
mulberry seeds from France. He was the originator of silk 
culture in California. In 1856 he also imported the first silk- 
worm eggs from China, but they did not hatch. The second 
year another trial of eggs from China was made, but vrith the 
same result. The third year eggs were procured from China 
again, and also from France. Nearly all those from France 
hatched, while those from China proved again an entire failure. 
It affords something on which we may reflect, why eggs from 
China always failed when our pioneers were endeavoring to 
make silk culture a California industry. Fortunately there was 
another source of supply; and, with good seed, California can- 
not fail to be what Mr. Hentch believed it was capable of be- 
coming, one of the best silk producing countries of the world. 

NEVADA COUNTY SILK RAISING. 

Mr. F. Gillett, of Nevada City, an experienced silkworm 
raiser, writes: A person can very well take care of 50,000 to 
75,000 worms. If there are children they can help in picking 
mulberry leaves and feeding the worms. To rear that number 
of worms, a room 24 feet by 16, and eleven feet from floor to 
ceiling, would be required; if smaller, then a smaller number of 
worms would h^ve to be raised. It is now for interested people 
to decide whether the production of cocoons, worth from $1 to 
$1.50 per pound (when fresh) would be remuneration enough 
and amply repay them for their trouble and labor. But I must 
say, he adds, to you ladies, the able and earnest promoters of 
this new movement, that without a filjature your efforts will all 
be in vain. So I repeat again, ;c To make silk culture a success 
in California you must have a filfature. A fil/ature will create a 
market for the sale of the silky product of the farmer, and will 
insure a steady and pleasant employment for many of the now 
unemployed people." 

THE MOVEMENT IN PHILADELPHIA. 

The President of the Silk Culture Association of the United 
States, Mrs. Lucas, of Philadelphia, in her report to the Chair- 
man of the Committee of Agriculture and Sericulture of Penn- 
sylvania, gives many encouraging facts. She says that a German 
farmer, who is also a musical instrument string manufacturer, 
has for several years raised cocoons, and, strange to relate, fed 
the worms on twelve different kinds of food; he has even reeled 
his cocoons on a simple attachment fastened to his wife's sewing- 
machine. Thus in his quiet, unobtrusive German perseverance 
he has produced the silk required for his business — that of mak- 
ing bass viol strings , which he affirms are far superior in quality — 



24 

made of the silk of his own raising. For this purpose— the bass 
strings — the best silk is required. 

Mrs. Lucas further states, that at the present time mechanics 
are constructing reels for the use of the Association, which it will 
soon be able to offer to the public — a simple and inexpensive 
reel, which it hopes to see introduced into the families of agri- 
culturalists throughout the rural districts, which will become as 
useful an auxiliary to the household as the sewing-machine. 
These reels will soon be put in operation, and agricultural people 
are earnestly urged to enter perseveringly into this work, and 
help to retain within their own pockets the millions of money 
which are now annually sent abroad for foreign silks. 

She says further: " Our Silk Culture Society aims to create a 
market for the exchange of small quantities of silk before it can 
reach the manufacturers, who purchase only in large quantities. 
Persons raising cocoons are invited by Mrs. Lucas to correspond 
with the Association of which she is President, or with branch 
associations, and state the quantity of silk cocoons, eggs, trees 
and seeds raised by them. 

VALUE OF SILK PRODUCTS. 

Raw silk reeled from the cocoons commands from $4 to $8 per 
pound, according to its quality. Unpierced cocoons and floss 
silk are worth $1 to $1 50 per pound. Silk-worm eggs are worth 
$1 per 1000, $3 per one-half ounce, $5 per ounce. 

It is estimated that a -sufficient quantity of trees planted in 
one acre of good rich ground will yield fifty thousand pounds of 
leaves and support a million of worms. Two acres of land 
planted with mulberry trees would give food enough to produce 
about thirty thousand pounds of leaves. About sixteen pounds 
of leaves are required to make one pound of stifled cocoons, which 
would yield about 1,765 of fresh cocoons. These stifled would 
yield about 588 pounds. Dried cocoons of good quality sbould 
bring about $2 per pound, or $1,176. A million cocoons reeled 
off will produce, at the rate of 2,500 to the pound, 400 pounds of 
raw silk, to raise which would cost, according to the Philadelphia 
Society's report: 

EXPENSES: 

1 grown person, first ten days $1^ 

2 boys or girls, first ten days 6 

2 grown persons, second ten days 2^ 

5 boys or girls, second ten days 15 

3 grown persons, third ten days 30 

16 boys or girls, third ten days 48 



$129 



25 

If we add $31 for fuel, a few days' work for pruning and culti- 
vating the trees, and a few sundries, it would cover all the ex- 
penses. The total would not exceed $160. This deducted from 
$1,176, would leave a profit of $1,016 on two acres of land, and 
less than two months' time! How does this compare with one 
bale of cotton to the acre, the bale at $40, and the crop of which 
it takes six months to make and gather ? These statistics are 
the result of actual personal operations under favorable circum- 
stances. 

Silk culture is a business which can be readily started, and with 
little capital. It requires but a small amount of land and no 
skilled labor. It demands scarcely any other care than that of 
women and children, and, in any event, need not greatly inter- 
fere with other farming operations, the attention bestowed upon 
it being called for mostly at times when other matters are not apt 
to be pressing. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

Any information concerning silk culture may be obtained by 
addressing Mrs. T. Lucas, President of the Woman's Silk Culture 
Association of the United States, No. 1028 Race street, Philadel- 
phia, Pa.; Mrs. E. B. Barker, President of the California Silk 
Culture Association, No. 14 Stanley Place, Rincon Hill, San 
Francisco, Cal.; or, Mrs. T. H. Hittell, No. 808 Turk street, San 
Francisco, Cal., the Corresponding Secretary of the California 
Silk Culture Association. 



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